Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first...........Sam Clemens

Monday, March 31, 2008

One of the best days of my adult life

Last week was a very low point in my professional career. There were a couple days I almost walked into my boss's office and just quit. It was a miserable week and one I never hope to relive. In the midst of that darkness, I received an email from the guy who is writing the book on the Canal. He was organizing a short-notice canal walk on Saturday and was inviting me to join the group. Even though I love the canal and I love hiking, it was hard to get excited in the mental state I was in. But I replied and told him I would be there. That was one of the best decisions I ever made.(Those confused with the what the "Canal" is: The Sandy Beaver Canal was the only privately owned and operated canal system in Ohio. After a great flood wiped out much of the canal in the early 1850's, it was abandoned and much of it dismantled. There are scarce traces of it, most of it only evident where the locks and dams were. For years I enjoyed the history of the canal and last year I started regularly hiking to the locks with Ell and our friend Brad. I found a website on the Canal hosted by a gentleman named Jerry King. Jerry is a professional photographer and has put together an extensive photographic collection of the entire canal system. His website is HERE.)Very few of you know anything about the canal beyond what I've told you, so I won't bore you with the hike or where we went or anything like that. But I have to tell you how the day made me feel. First of all it was amazing to be around people with intense knowledge about something I care about just as much. I would never trade my hiking times with Ell and Brad for anything, but those times are mainly about the hiking more than the history. The hike on Saturday was only being done for the sake of the history. I found myself soaked into information and time lines and engineering and details heaped upon details. I was in heaven.To make it even better, as we set out into the woods we ran into the people that owned the last few miles beyond the section we were hiking. They gave us permission to continue our trip which essentially doubled our journey and doubled my happiness. We extended the trip even further by visiting another section when we had finished the second leg. The day was beautiful, the sights were amazing, the people were knowledgeable...... I'm beaming right now just thinking about it.As the title says, Saturday turned out to be one of the best days I've ever had in my adult life. I was in the company of people who didn't roll their eyes when I went on a history tangent. The sun was shining and I could literally feel it chasing winter away. I was out hiking which I still have to figure out how to make it a full time job (with benefits). But most of all, I felt like me. No fake niceness or hidden tears, no confusing emails or reports, and no one around me who didn't want me there. It was so refreshing and calming. It ended up being the breath of fresh air I was too beat down to realize I needed.

5 Comments:

I was so happy I didn't even want to change out of the clothes I was wearing in case the good vibes would come off too. So you got to see me in my muddy best. But I sure was happy, wasn't I. After you left I felt kind of silly 'cause I was acting loopy the whole time. But acting loopy was my only escape so you didn't think I was just a goofball! :-)

I did really enjoy the seed meeting too. You are going to have an awesome garden this year!

Hi Sam,I'm Kimmy's aunt Teri.Have you applied at Chase? I believe there have been some manager positions open and they have been training people.I know they have been hiring and moving people around. Go to Chase.com and apply online under the career banner at the bottom,if you're interested. Thats what they require to apply. Seems to me with your experience,you would have a good chance.Hope it all works out for you.